In the liner notes for the 1999 reissue, Lee Gardner comments "[It] represents the first, best recorded declaration from Fahey that he was interested in transforming his music into a vehicle for personal expression that built on his influences but accepted none of their prosaic boundaries. Nowadays this sort of concept is a given. But it didn't exist until Fahey took it on, and precious few of those who have followed him took it farther than he did."

In reviewing The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites for Allmusic, music critic Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...

 called it "One of Fahey's less eccentric early efforts, featuring relatively straightforward instrumentals showcasing his deft finger work and occasional keening slide."

In his review of the 1999 reissue, Alex Henderson called the CD "...essentially a folk album, but a folk album with strong country and blues leanings... this album makes it clear that even back in 1964 Fahey was quite original."

Music critic Ivan Emke referred to the original album as "the one that helped to launch his reputation. Much of it is inspired by the country blues and Delta sounds that he had been drawn to, and yet it was obvious that Fahey [was] taking the tunes to places they hadn't been before... a classic; it provides a snapshot of a musician in transition."

Reissues

• The original cover of The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites was simply a white cover with black lettering of the title. It was reissued by Takoma in 1967 with new artwork similar in style to that of the 1967 reissues of Blind Joe Death and Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes.
• The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites was reissued by Takoma in 1999 on CD with four bonus tracks.

Track listing

All songs credited to John Fahey unless otherwise noted.

1. "Wine and Roses" – 3:28
2. "How Long" – 2:55
3. "On the Banks of the Owchita" – 3:52
4. "Worried Blues" – 2:24
5. "What the Sun Said" – 10:11
6. "Revelation on the Banks of the Pawtuxent" – 2:34
7. "Poor Boy" (Fahey, Bukka White
   Bukka White
   Booker T. Washington White , better known as Bukka White, was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. "Bukka" was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second record label .-Biography:Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the...
   
   ) – 3:19
8. "Variations on the Coocoo
   The Cuckoo (song)
   "The Cuckoo" is a traditional English folk song. It has been covered by many musicians in several different styles. An early notable recorded version was performed by Appalachian folk musician Clarence Ashley with a unique banjo tuning....
   
   " (arr: Fahey, Clarence Ashley
   Clarence Ashley
   "Tom" Clarence Ashley was an American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands...
   
   ) – 4:00
9. "The Last Steam Engine Train" – 2:18
10. "Give Me Corn Bread When I'm Hungry" – 3:12
11. "Dance of Death" – 7:39

    1999 reissue bonus tracks:

12. "Tulip (AKA When You Wore a Tulip and I Wore a Big Red Rose)" (Arr: Fahey, Jack Mahoney, Percy Wenrich
    Percy Wenrich
    Percy Wenrich was a United States composer of ragtime and popular music.Born in Joplin, Missouri, he left for Chicago in 1901 and moved on to New York City around 1907 to work as a Tin Pan Alley composer, but his music retains a Missouri folk flavor...
    
    ) – 2:43
13. "Daisy Bell
    Daisy Bell
    "Daisy Bell" is a popular song with the well-known chorus "Daisy, Daisy/Give me your answer do/I'm half crazy/all for the love of you" as well as the line "...a bicycle built for two".-History:"Daisy Bell" was composed by Harry Dacre in 1892...
    
     (A Bicycle Built for Two)" (Arr: Fahey, Harry Dacre
    Harry Dacre
    Harry Dacre was an English songwriter.Dacre had a hit in 1892 with the song "Daisy Bell" , made famous by Katie Lawrence, and then in 1899 with the song "I'll Be Your Sweetheart"....
    
    ) – 1:20
14. "The Siege of Sevastopol" (Arr: Haley) – 1:22
15. "Steel Guitar Rag" (Traditional) – 2:10

Personnel

• John Fahey
  John Fahey (musician)
  John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
  
   – guitar
• Bill Barth
  Bill Barth
  William Henry "Bill" Barth was an American blues guitarist who, along with John Fahey and Henry Vestine, located 1930s blues great Skip James in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi in 1964.-Memphis Country Blues Society:Barth co-founded the Memphis Country Blues Society, a non-profit organization...
  
   – guitar ("On the Banks of the Owchita")

Production notes:

• ED Denson
  ED Denson
  Eugene "ED" Denson is an American music group manager, producer, record label owner, and - later - lawyer, who has made notable contributions to folk, blues, and early San Francisco rock.-Biography:Denson was born in Washington D.C. in 1940...
  
   – producer
• Gene Rosenthal
  Adelphi Records
  Adelphi Records is a US record label founded in 1968 by Gene and Carol Rosenthal.Musicians on that label are The Nighthawks and Catfish Hodge , Lenny Breau, Reuben Brown and Richie Cole , Yellowman, Big Youth and Toots & the Maytals , Rev. Gary Davis, Gene Johnson [Rock & Soul], and Rev...
  
  – engineer
• Bill Belmont – reissue producer
• Joe Tarantino – remastering
• John Fahey – original liner notes
• Lee Gardner – reissue liner notes
• Tom Weller – original design
• Deb Sibony – reissue design
• Jamie Putnam – reissue art direction